HERO: 'Selfless' student disarmed Seattle gunman

posted by Rob Quinn, Newser Staff
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2 years ago

(NEWSER) – A gunman "hellbent on killing a lot of people" at Seattle Pacific University was stopped thanks to a student's bravery, police say. As the gunman—who shot one person dead and wounded others in a university building—paused to reload his shotgun, he was pepper-sprayed by Jon Meis, a student working as a building monitor, police say. Meis put the suspect, identified as 26-year-old Aaron Ybarra, in a chokehold as other students and faculty members rushed to help hold him down. Ybarra has been booked on murder charges and police say he was carrying a knife and more shotgun shells. Meis is being hailed as a soft-spoken hero, but "we're not really talking to anyone right now," his sister tells the Seattle Times. “It doesn’t surprise me that he would step in to do something like that," adds a classmate. "He’s a selfless guy.”